Academics

Timothy Barker

Professor of Astronomy

Degrees

Main Interests

I own a 32-inch telescope on Cape Cod and enjoy having students use it with me. I also enjoy snorkeling, radio control glider and helicopter flying, paragliding, tennis, movies and reading.

Research Interests

I have observed extensively with the large telescopes at Kitt Peak National Observatory and with NASA's International Explorer Satellite, studying planetary nebulae (the material left behind by stars when they die), but my main research interests have shifted to projects that can be done using the equipment on the Observing Deck on the roof of the Science Center. Using one of these telescopes, we became the first liberal arts college in the country to discover a supernova, 1994U. We now have a total of nine computerized telescopes, seven of which are equipped with superb CCD cameras. Although the primary purpose of these telescopes is to give all introductory students the chance to use modern astronomical equipment, we also use them to study eclipsing binary stars, cataclysmic variable stars, X-ray variables, and quasars. Our satellite-tracking telescope allows us to study satellites and space debris. Students also use our telescope at the Wheaton College Observatory at Grove Creek, Australia, which is controlled over the Internet.

Teaching Interests

I'd like to see every Wheaton student take at least one astronomy course, and I'm delighted that so many do take astronomy. Many beginning students believe that they are weak in science, and I enjoy helping them to discover that they can be very good at astronomy and can find the subject exciting. All astronomy courses taught at Wheaton are now at least partially Web-based, and one, The Universe, is an entire self-contained text. The goal of this Web-based approach is to help students learn better and faster outside class, so that more class time can be spent discussing and "uncovering" the material, rather than just covering it. I've travelled to Mexico and Guatemala several times to study Maya astronomy, and I teach a course "Ancient Astronomies" that focuses on Maya and Islamic astronomy.

Student Projects

Funded by a NASA grant, students are monitoring the moon to look for transient phenomena. Several students and I presented a paper at the May 2011 American Astronomical Society about this ongoing project.

Using our telescope in Australia (controlled over the Internet), students and I have measured the light curve of three minor planets. The results for 1026 Ingrid were presented at a meeting of the American Association of Variable Star Observers. Light curves for 180 Garumna and 247 Eukrate were obtained in collaboration with observers in New Mexico and several other countries and have been published in the Minor Planet Bulletin.

Students have used telescopes at Wheaton and in Australia to monitor a quasar in collaboration with several other institutions, and the results presented at an American Astronomical Society meeting. Recent senior theses include: a theoretical study of light curves, an analysis of the college-owned spectrometer, a theoretical and observational study of Delta Scuti stars, and modeling the change in the size of the habitable zone as the Sun evolves off the main sequence.